Kurşunlu Mosque and Complex

Early 16th-century Ottoman mosque complex by the architect Acem Ali

The Kurşunlu Mosque ("lead-roofed mosque") sits at the foot of the Odunpazarı slope and is the most important historic mosque in Eskişehir. Built in 1525 by Acem Ali — the chief Ottoman architect who taught Mimar Sinan — it is part of a small külliye (complex) that originally included a madrasa, soup kitchen, and caravansarai. Several of those secondary buildings still stand and now house museums.

The mosque itself is modest in scale by Istanbul standards but beautifully proportioned, with a single dome over the prayer hall and an open portico. The lead roof from which it takes its name was restored in the 2000s. Visit outside prayer times; modest dress required, scarves provided at the entrance.

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A story
The Kurşunlu complex was commissioned by the grand vizier Çoban Mustafa Pasha and designed by Acem Ali, the chief Ottoman architect who taught the young Mimar Sinan. Pieces of Sinan's later mature style — the carefully proportioned domed spaces, the integrated courtyard — are arguably in embryo here, in the work of his teacher.

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